Let me clarify the meaning of :backbone.YES DISTRIBUTE(NO) and apologize for these rambled answers - there was a huge amount of mail in my reader this morning, and everything was in random (non-chronological) order. Anyway, If Left(tag,13) == ':backbone.YES' Then you have to keep your server up to date. However, if you add DISTRIBUTE(NO), you will not receive any DIST job to process; whether or not you are up 7 days is then irrelevant. If you wish to participate in the LISTS database stuff, that is also fine, your database may not be up to date when you are down :-), but nobody is forced to use it. YES DISTRIBUTE(NO) means, in fact, two things: 1. You receive the "backbone only" control files, PEERS NAMES and LINKSWT FILE. 2. Your server is allowed to participate in all the "backbone only" activities, if you so desire; in exchange for this, you have to keep it up to date. Does that meet your needs or do you still want a new tag? Eric